A number of conventional methods and devices for carrying out these methods exist for controlling power flows in a motor vehicle. DE 197 03 863 A1, for example, describes a method and a device by which a drive control is carried out, thus mechanical power flows in the motor-vehicle drive are controlled (see also Hötzer, D.: Entwicklung einer Schaltstrategie für einen PKW mit automatischem Schaltgetriebe (translated as “Development of a Shifting Strategy for a Passenger Vehicle with Automatic Transmission”), Expert Verlag, Renningen, 1999). Regardless of how these methods operate, their goal is always to minimize the fuel consumption and optimize the vehicle response, which can be achieved by coordinated control of the internal combustion engine and the vehicle drive.
Other systems control thermal power flows in a motor vehicle, in particular systems for thermal management and climate control, and yet other system control electrical power flows in the onboard electrical system such as systems for electrical energy management and for load management, as described for example in the article by Schöttle, R. and Schramm, D., Zukünftige Energiebordnetze im Kraftfahrzeug (translated as “Future Onboard Energy Networks in Motor Vehicles”), Fahrzeug-und Verkehrstechnik (“Automotive and Traffic Engineering”) Yearbook, VDI-Verlag, Dusseldorf, 1997.
However, conventional methods and systems share the common feature that they are principally concerned with only one form of energy in the mechanical, electrical, or thermal power flows in a motor vehicle, and, therefore, essentially do not take into account the physical linkage provided in a motor vehicle between these forms of energy.